The Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 (SI 2006/1945 (N.I. 14)) is an Order in Council that reformed the law of Northern Ireland on the physical punishment of children and on the prohibited degrees of relationship that restrict certain marriages and civil partnerships, and made a minor correction to the Civil Partnership Act 2004. It was made by the Queen-in-Council under the Northern Ireland Act 2000 at a time when the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended, a draft having first been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.
Background The order dealt with three unrelated issues: the defence of reasonable chastisement, the law relating to marriage and civil partnership, and a minor technical correction to the Civil Partnership Act 2004. Its provision on the physical punishment of children followed the European Court of Human Rights' decision in A v United Kingdom (1998), which held that the state had breached article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to protect a boy from beatings by his stepfather, and largely mirrors section 58 of the Children Act 2004, which made corresponding provision for England and Wales.
Because the Northern Ireland Assembly was suspended between October 2002 and May 2007, legislation of this kind was made instead by Order in Council under the Northern Ireland Act 2000, subject to approval of a draft by both Houses of Parliament, rather than by the Assembly itself.
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